Forming machines have long been employed to form objects such as fasteners from wire or strip on a continuous high speed basis. One example of such a machine that has proven to be highly effective in forming objects including fasteners from wire or strip is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,479,376 and is known in the forming industry as the "Nilson fourslide metal forming machine" in which wire or strip is indexed past successive forming stations at which the wire strip is bent or punched or other operations are performed by means of reciprocating tools and which, at some point, is cut to form separate objects such as fasteners by means of a reciprocating cutting blade mounted on a cut-off head.
Although cut-off heads provided with the Nilson fourslide forming machines have been found to be effective, the wire or strip guide holder used in connection therewith has heretofore been an integral part of the reciprocating member making repairs costly and difficult when wear or breakage occurs to the guide holder.
Although adjustable relative the frame to which they were secured, the prior art cut-off heads could not be moved in an incremental manner.
The present invention overcomes the above described shortcomings by providing a guide holder that is releasably securable to the end of the reciprocating member to which it is releasably secured as well as providing an adjustable plate member upon which the cut-off head is pivotably engageable to provide a positive stop preventing as well as providing movement of the stationary position of the cut-off head in the direction of reciprocation as a means for positioning the cut-off blade in a direction generally transverse to the direction of reciprocation.